tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220050239524913370.post4881529284175047610..comments2023-09-04T02:53:05.922-06:00Comments on The San Juan Almanac: the state of book publishing...Ken Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15252722091562252055noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220050239524913370.post-13089895767322405792009-01-03T09:47:00.000-07:002009-01-03T09:47:00.000-07:00yes, both good comments. but shepard's piece i...yes, both good comments. <BR/><BR/>but shepard's piece is a little unfocused, jumping from a pay-for-play expose to a complaint about the feds printing more money.<BR/><BR/>indies are basically editors -- middle merchants who mediate between BOOKS and PEOPLE. when i want to shop for what's current, i go to indies. when i want a specific book, i go directly on line to the publisher. or i buy it from the author. as naisbitt noted so sagely, we live in times of high tech/high touch.<BR/><BR/>but most buyers, being ignorant, lazy or poor, go for the cheapest source -- amazon & the chains.<BR/><BR/>that's market forces at work in a capitalist economic system in which we are all embedded.<BR/><BR/>what we need to do is educate our citizens to informed choices where cost isn't the only bottom line. if we can do that for coffee (shade-grown, organic, fair-trade), we can do it for books. <BR/><BR/>but remember, part of the problem is that authors want (and deserve) just wages for their labor. small press publishers can rarely afford to pay what the big publishers pay. and thus competition and marketing and pay-for-play exist. <BR/><BR/>as long as what we write is part of the capitalist system (as opposed to Hyde's gift economy, or web sites like this blog), what can we really expect to change?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220050239524913370.post-85861437859695896082009-01-01T16:57:00.000-07:002009-01-01T16:57:00.000-07:00I knew there would be good comments. Why I posted ...I knew there would be good comments. Why I posted it.Kate Nileshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01132681245203230399noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220050239524913370.post-92202795446818892192009-01-01T09:39:00.000-07:002009-01-01T09:39:00.000-07:00Shepard's right on. Amazon,though, absolutely get...Shepard's right on. Amazon,though, absolutely gets paid for what comes up on their homepage, in the margins, and in their e-mail blasts, make no mistake.<BR/><BR/>The way it works for the Indies is thusly:<BR/>We make a display with books we like, take a picture, and then apply for co-op dollars. It's basically the opposite of the chain mentality, where the pubs are dictating what the stores display. The downer for the indies' method is that very few books have any kind of a marketing budget at all, so often times the relativley "small" book may not get us some cash. If this is the case, or we think it might be (we know which pubs don't play nice) we forgo the picture and tell them about a display instead, mentioning the number of their titles, etc. It's a weird game to play, but ya gotta do it. <BR/>As the buyer, I have a fair amount of control over how much co-op cash Maria's is capable of getting, as our dollars are tabulated based on our prior year's book purchases. This is free money, for the most part, just sitting there until we ask for it. <BR/><BR/>Any ads that you see about book signings and events were paid for largely by the publishers. The margins in the book industry are so ridiculously small that any slight percentage we can get back can make or break our budget. As a matter of fact, most profitable bookstores (which is by no means most bookstores) have only a 2% profit margin. <BR/><BR/>None of us work with books for the money, though.Joe Fosterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14061661545345712192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1220050239524913370.post-27647245534827830862008-12-29T22:03:00.000-07:002008-12-29T22:03:00.000-07:00Economic reality does seem to be giving the econom...Economic reality does seem to be giving the economy of scale (bigger is better) folks a bite of economic reality in their most vulnerable pockets. It's about time.<BR/><BR/>Pay for play is not limited to bookstores and politics, though. Grocery shelves have long been dominated by a few corporate bribes, and these hard times might be a good time to investigate more "primitive" forms of free enterprise, where the shop owner actually stocks items the customers want, rather than convincing the customer to want what the shelf offers. For examples, visit street vendors and independent booksellers.About B.https://www.blogger.com/profile/13481178881133837915noreply@blogger.com